Age UK Sunderland

Job Description

Post:
Location:
Responsible to:

Essence Service Manager
Doxford Park
Senior Operations Manager

Job Purpose

To  provide  direct  management  to  Age  UK  Sunderland’s  Essence  Service  and  staff
team; ensuring the exemplar provision of practical, social and emotional specialised
support to individuals who are living  with  a mild to moderate  diagnosis of dementia
and their Carers.

Job Description

To provide operational management of The Essence Service to ensure the provision
of innovative interventions and continuous practical, social and emotional support to
those living with a mild to moderate diagnosis of dementia and their Carers.

To manage and oversee the delivery of other services or developments as required
by Age UK Sunderland.

To ensure clear and effective referral pathways are maintained with the Sunderland
Memory Protection Unit and other key partner statutory/voluntary organisations in the
City including the liaison with social work teams.

To  lead,  motivate,  supervise  and  manage  a  staff  team  including  direct  line
management and appraisals.

To effectively recruit, train, support and develop volunteers involved in the delivery of
the Services.

To ensure the implementation of a person-centred approach for people living with mild
to moderate dementia diagnosis and their carer; to create a supportive environment
to retain confidence, personal interests, wellbeing and independence.

To ensure the continuous monitoring of assessment tools and  support plans for the
Essence Service to ensure robust operational processes and systems are sustained
and implemented.

To ensure the Essence transitional pathway is adhered to and higher support services
are sought for the person with dementia and their carers where appropriate.

To ensure the implementation of a varied programme of activities that are responsive
to the needs of the client groups.

To  monitor  the  adherence  to  service  KPIs  and  Risk  Register  including  all  risk
management needs.

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To  provide  high  level  written  and  verbal  service  reports/summaries  as  required.
This will include operational reports, evaluations and the contribution to strategic
leadership reports on developing and maintaining the Essence and other services
of responsibility in Sunderland.

To ensure a robust referrals pathways to VCS and statutory support across the City.

To keep an accurate training matrix ensuring the provision of appropriate training and
support to staff and volunteers.

To support in all HR related activities including staff disciplinaries.

To oversee the input of data onto the client information management systems to
update client details, and periodically produce detailed accurate reports ensuring
client details are correct in line with GDPR requirements.

To ensure the Doxford Park Essence Building is kept to an excellent standard and a
dementia friendly environment is maintained at all times.

Be aware of Health and Safety issues involved in the management of a building and
the delivery of this service.

To  actively  promote,  develop  and  market  the  Essence  service  liaising  with  partner
agencies appropriately as an Age UK Sunderland representative.

To  ensure  effective  communication  and  joint  working  with  the  wider  Age  UK
Sunderland teams.

To support the successful contract management of the Essence Service

To  abide  by  and  implement  all  policies  and  procedures  of  Age  UK  Sunderland,
including being aware of and responsible corporately and as an individual for Health
and Safety policy.

To act as a responsible person within Age UK Sunderland’s safeguarding policy and
procedure.

To abide by all equality and diversity practice in the provision of the Essence Service.

To support in the sustainment and attainment of all Age UK Sunderland quality marks
and accreditations

To  undertake  all  reasonable  tasks,  in  keeping  with  the  level  of  responsibility  of  the
post, as requested by the Chief Executive Officer.

This post is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Enhanced check.

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Age UK Sunderland

Person Specification

Post:
Location:
Responsible to:

Essence Service Manager
Doxford Park
Senior Operations Manager

Essential Criteria:

A  minimum  of  three  years  operational  management  experience  of  leading  and
managing a diverse staff team

Extensive  experience  of  HR  related  tasks  including  appraisals  and  performance
management including good knowledge and experience of disciplinary processes.

Good track record of contract management and commissioning procedures.

Vast experience required on contract monitoring including the adherence of KPIs and
targets to achieve outcome focussed results.

Experience of supporting people with dementia, their carers and older people with low
level mental health issues.

Experience  of  implementing  the  provision  of  services  to  vulnerable  people  and  the
identification of gaps in service provision.

Proven track record of managing the logistics of a multi operational and multi partner
service.

Exemplary partnership/multiagency working experience and skills.

Extensive experience of client assessments, evaluation processes and working within
a person-centred approach.

Ability to manage a busy workload and prioritise appropriately.

Previous experience of working with vulnerable people.

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A good track record of developing and maintaining successful services.

Possess excellent communication skills to deal with highly sensitive and emotional
issues on a frequent and unpredictable basis.

Excellent report writing and analytical skills required via the aggregation of data to
produce complex reports.

Excellent communicator and influencer with the ability to tailor communications to
different audiences.

Have a good understanding of volunteering and demonstrate evidence of the ability to
recruit, train and retain volunteers.

Commitment to working in the voluntary sector.

Be innovative and take on new challenges.

Be a dynamic self-starter.

Demonstrate a flair for organising.

Ability  to  respond  effectively  to  unplanned/  emergency  situations  including  crisis
management.

A flexible approach to work.

Maintain confidentiality at all times.

Educated to Degree level (although consideration may be given to candidates who are
able  to  demonstrate  a  track  record  of  operational  managerial  achievement  and
experience).

Sound  understanding  of  GDPR  principles  and  safeguarding  processes  for
vulnerable adults

Have excellent IT skills, with ability to produce reports, databases and other key IT
project management tools.

Possess a full, clean driving licence and have access to a car for work.

Desirable:

Management qualification of level 4 or above.

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